00:01On Wednesday, a total solar eclipse plunged parts of Europe into darkness.
00:07The rare event drew crowds outdoors with specialist eclipse glasses selling out,
00:11and many people even traveling to Spain, Portugal or Iceland to witness it.
00:17The moon first blotted out the sun in the remote Arctic region of northern Russia.
00:22It then passed down through parts of Greenland and Iceland.
00:26The eclipse plunged western Iceland into complete darkness,
00:30although heavy cloud cover and rain blocked visibility of the sun disappearing behind the moon.
00:36Meanwhile, excitement built in Spain, where day also briefly turned into night.
00:41The country witnessed its first total solar eclipse in more than a century.
00:47But as always, the phenomenon was only short-lived.
00:50In parts of Russia and Greenland, the total eclipse lasted under two and a half minutes.
00:55For observers in Spain, it lasted less than two minutes just before sunset.
01:01The partial eclipse process, however, lasted much longer, roughly one hour and 45 minutes, as the moon crossed the sun's
01:08path.
01:13More than half of Europe's population will be hit by another heatwave, with the thermometer climbing to over 30 degrees
01:20Celsius.
01:22It comes as once again the continent faces soaring temperatures, following back-to-back heatwaves in recent months.
01:29The most intense heat is expected in western and southern Europe, with France, Italy and Spain among the hardest hit
01:36regions.
01:38But the heatwave also extends towards the Balkans, especially Greece and the Adriatic coast.
01:45And in the United Kingdom, the government will hold an emergency COBRA meeting in response to the extreme heat.
01:52It will mark the nation's second meeting of its sort this year.
01:56Scientists have blamed the growing heatwaves on human-caused climate change.
02:01Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent.
02:04The repeated heatwaves have fueled widespread drought and intense wildfires this year.
02:15Standing eight hours per day in an archaeological site with no shade, all leading a city tour by 30 degrees.
02:21In the midst of the touristic season, and while Europe is facing record-breaking temperatures,
02:26several tourist guides wander on the front line during heatwaves, and they face the consequences.
02:31Last summer, a 56-year-old guide died after collapsing while leading a visit of the Colosseum in Rome in
02:38scorching heat.
02:52The French guide says, while self-employed tourist guides may ask their customers to cancel or postpone the visit because
02:58of the heat,
02:58it is often not an option for guides working for intermediaries, since the visits are sometimes booked well in advance.
03:05The most time, we work for an agency, a tour operator, a cruise, it can be very varied, as I
03:11said before.
03:12And now, it's them who choose, very clearly, and the most time, it's not annulable, but it happens.
03:18Instead of canceling a visit, some of his colleagues have, for instance, asked their employers to turn a bike tour
03:23into a bus tour,
03:24or to replace a walking tour of the city by a visit of an air-conditioned museum.
03:29Gabriel says this change is also in the interest of the visitors, as most of his customers are above 60
03:35years old, and some do not support the heat.
03:38Meanwhile, while the UK is set to face its hottest summer on record, the head of training for the European
03:43Federation of Tourist Guide Associations
03:45says sites should extend their opening hours to allow early and late visits during the coolest part of the day.
03:52In Greece, a lot of museums and open-air sites open very early in the morning, and they remain open
04:00until 8, 9 o'clock in the evening,
04:03so people can visit at times which are more comfortable rather than in the midday sun.
04:13Demis also encourages museums and sites to build covers for groups to wait in the shade while curing to enter,
04:20or when stopping for explanations.
04:21Other solutions include distributing water bottles, increasing the number of public water fountains,
04:27and installing misters to cool visitors down.
04:30While heat waves are set to become more intense and more frequent due to climate change,
04:34visitors could also favour a trip in May or September rather than at the height of summer.
04:41The severe drought that has plagued Europe this summer has now also affected the grape harvest in Hungary's most famous
04:49wine region.
04:50Grapes are smaller and vines struggling to survive due to high temperatures in the Villani wine region.
04:57causing the harvest to start sooner than normal.
05:01We are very comfortable with it, that there is quite a lot of food.
05:08It is not only at the level of the country, but it is a little cold.
05:13Especially in the warmer temperatures,
05:18that there is not only a significant amount of water in the water,
05:22but there is no longer in the water.
05:25Expertise is important in the winemaking business,
05:27but even seasoned farmers are powerless against the forces of nature.
05:32Though the wine's quality is not expected to be seriously compromised,
05:36the quantity of grapes ready for harvest is expected to be around 30% lower than in previous years.
05:53We are not able to get the grapes.
05:56We are not able to get the grapes.
06:00In the previous years, the harvest of red grape varieties in Vilani began in early September,
06:06but this year it is expected to start earlier.
06:10Exactly when will depend on the progress of the forced ripening caused by the droid.
06:18Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to seize ships belonging to European countries
06:24in retaliation for plans to intercept and seize Russian vessels
06:28suspected of being part of Moscow's so-called shadow fleet.
06:32New sanctions passed last month now permit EU members to sell the oil
06:37or any other cargo seized from these vessels.
06:40Putin slammed the move, calling it piracy.
06:43We see that the authorities of some countries in violation of the international law
06:49are trying to reduce the movement of our economy.
06:54Our economy is in peace.
06:57We have recently agreed to the possibility of the removal of our economy
07:03and the selling of our economy.
07:07Of course, it is something other than piracy and rebellion.
07:13And if it is in practice, we will be forced to respond to the ground.
07:19Several European countries have intercepted ships that were carrying Russian oil or other cargo.
07:25These vessels are often old and in poor condition and are used to circumvent Western sanctions on Russia.
07:32One of such vessels seized was a Russian ship suspected of transporting grain from occupied Ukraine.
07:38Swedish court documents showed Stockholm will transfer the ship to Kyiv.
07:47Russia launched nearly 140 drones and multiple missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine, according to authorities.
07:55At least two people were killed, including a woman whose house was hit and two were injured in strikes on
08:02the city of Herson.
08:04In the southern eastern city of Zaporizhia, firefighters were tackling a fire at a shopping mall following a Russian strike,
08:12according to Ukraine's state emergency services.
08:15Also in the south, another Russian attack on Odessa caused a fire in a multi-storey residential building.
08:22According to Ukraine's armed forces, 112 of the drones were neutralized.
08:27Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's Novorossiysk killed two people, including an eight-year-old child,
08:35as well as wounding eight people, according to the regional governor.
08:39Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had carried out a unique operation targeting the naval base in Novorossiysk,
08:48the last major stronghold of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
08:53Russia shot down 502 Ukrainian drones across its territory and the Black Sea overnight, its defense ministry said in a
09:01statement.
09:06Germany has approved a draft law to reform the legal framework governing the intelligence services.
09:14The aim is to improve efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.
09:18Nina Walken, Chief of Staff to the Chancellor, says she is worried about the future of Germany and its democracy.
09:26In the future, the threat is a real threat, a very acute threat.
09:34Yes, it is a threat for our free society, our value, our security, and so on.
09:39And so on, what our country is in its fundamentals.
09:42And now, it must be objective, we have left us in too many relevant areas to ensure that our security
09:50is from our partners.
09:54In future, the authorities are to be allowed to intervene actively, for example, in response to cyber attacks and disinformation
10:02campaigns targeting Germany.
10:05Intelligence services would also get more powers to access laptops, cell phones and other devices and store the data.
10:13Meanwhile, some, including the Green Party intelligence expert Konstantin van Notz, said that although the reform was urgently necessary, the
10:23government's plans go too far.
10:25Modern Germany remains highly sensitive to data protection, shaped by memories of Nazi and later by communist East Germany's secret
10:34police.
10:40A new index ranking the best countries and territories to relocate to in 2026 has just been released, and a
10:48Baltic state has come out on top.
10:50Estonia ranked first globally in the index thanks to its banking infrastructure, business opportunities, and property rights for non-citizens.
10:59The index scores 192 countries across 24 metrics, which are grouped into four categories, financial and tax, livability and health,
11:10safety and stability, and settling and opportunity.
11:13In each metric, a country is rated out of 100. Estonia was rated 99 out of 100 for its currency
11:20and banking, 96 for business opportunities, 82 for housing affordability, 86 for green spaces, and 77 for street safety.
11:30Its poorest metric was climate comfort, with 20 out of 100 due to its cold, dark winters.
11:37Five countries in Europe made the top ten in the global relocation index, with the next highest after Estonia being
11:44Portugal in fourth place.
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